In my recent review of the 2010 Mustang GT, I suggested that only a slight lack of power vis-à-vis the competition kept the revised pony from five-star status. The new “Shelby”— air-quoted because the car is really a product of the dedicated men and women of Ford’s unsung SVT division—GT500 is a sharp riposte to that concern. At approximately forty-eight thousand dollars, it’s the only 540-horsepower car available under fifty grand. Or sixty. Or seventy. Or eighty. Or ninety. In fact, if the embattled Viper doesn’t show up in showrooms for 2010, it will be the only car for sale in the country with this kind of power under . . . the Corvette ZR-1, which costs nearly three times as much. Ah, but is the über-Stang really worth the premium over the the GT?

When I heard that Ford’s GT500 media preview would take place at Infineon Raceway, it seemed reasonable to assume that we’d be focusing on dragstrip prowess, with a side nod to racetrack potential. Surprisingly, delightfully, Ford chose to start the press day with a one-hundred-and-forty mile drive up the Northern California coastline. Narrow roads, sharp turns, big elevation changes and limited sightlines. From previous testing, I knew the aluminum-block Mustang GT was a competent dance partner under those conditions. Surely the heavy-nosed Shelby would be a bit overmatched by an endless series of camber-change second-gear hairpins?

The answer turned out to be a combination of “kinda” and “hell no.” There’s no getting away from physics. The supercharged iron-block mill hanging over the ’Stang’s front wheels creates a pretty big polar moment of inertia. The GT500 is like a paper airplane with three paperclips on the nose; it wants to fly straight under all circumstances. Drivers who are looking for the darty nose of a Porsche Boxster or Mazda RX-8 can keep looking.

For the 2010 GT500, Ford’s SVT engineers reduced the front swaybar’s diameter while increasing spring stiffness. (The changes permit a quicker load on the outside tire, promoting initial turn-in.) They revised the damping rates to match the new bespoke-pattern Goodyear tires. The payoff: the GT500’s steering wheel now has some real bite on the pavement. Although it takes some force to get the nose turning, it will happen reliably upon driver request. There’s none of the nasty “slip and set” feel familiar to drivers of older Mustangs.

Once the GT500’s steering’s in progress, additional rotation around the car’s vertical axis is available on command. Second gear runs up to nearly eighty miles per hour; the heroic thirty-two-valve Romeo motor can spin the tires without preamble anywhere on the tach. As with the Mustang GT, this feels like a “Euro” engine, closer in power delivery to a Cayenne Turbo’s V8 than to any pushrod ponycar. The Shelby delivers its maximum power above six grand. More importantly, the torque peak is between four and five. It’s a road racer’s dream, awake and alive all the way to the limiter.

Down Highway 1, I find myself reaching for third gear more and more, and occasionally venture into fourth on the exit of the fastest corners. The road’s crowded, but with the ability to reach one hundred and thirty miles per hour in seconds, any visible gap is usable. I see a big “whoop” ahead, a mid-corner hump that obscures the road beyond it, and I hit it at ninety miles per hour. The limiter chatters as the rear wheels spin in midair. I land the big Shelby sideways with the rear tires smoking. What we’re looking for here is something between the auto-correction of a GT-R or Porsche 997 and the unpredictable “death car” wobble of a first-gen Viper. Fortunately, the Mustang Shelby GT500 delivers perfectly.

Still, without active participation, I’ll oscillate off the road, fall down to the rocky seashore, and die. Big opposite-lock. The GT500’s feedback is micrometer-precise. Foot still flat on the floor, I sense the momentum reducing and unwind the steering. Here, that big iron arrowhead is a help, not a hindrance. And get this: we’re still accelerating. Fourth gear and we straighten out. That’s it. I’m in love. The Mustang Shelby GT500 provides all the power you could want, all the control you need, and all of the babysitting electronic crap can be turned off. Perfect.

The rest of the car’s pretty good, too. The interior detailing and features do more justice to the price than one might expect, and NVH levels are almost too respectable. The Shelby GT500’s well-built enough to suck-in the occasional Infiniti or BMW intender. While the Neanderthal retro–look is a bit OTT, the latest ‘Stang certainly earns its stripes. To wit: when Shelby introduced the first GT500 in 1967, he claimed it would be a superior road car. Forty-one years later, it is.

[Ford provided the car reviewed, insurance, access to a closed course and a couple of tanks of gas.]

34 Comments on “Review: 2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500...”

Great review, Jack! I just wish that Ford had ponyed up for the new, quieter, more efficient TVS blower in place of the old roots type that’s been impersonating a dentist’s drill under the hood of Cobras and Lightnings for years.

Way to test a car, Jack–push it to the point where, if the car isn’t up to snuff, you’ll both bite it. Good to hear the car passed, and you stayed off the rocks.

Incredible review, BTW. Next best thing to being in the driver’s seat. Must say I personally prioritize the “darty nose” of the RX-8, or at least the balanced feel of a Pontiac G8 (to single out something in this weight class).

On the reliability front, Mustang owners have been reporting low to moderate repair rates on TrueDelta’s Car Reliability Survey. The 2010 hasn’t changed so much that we’d expect much of a blip, but remains to be seen.

I don’t get how Ford is surviving this downturn. Either they have a boatload of cash or they’re lying to us about how they’re doing. Are Fords flying out of showrooms and dealer lots? They must be having the same slow sales as everyone else.

it’s the only 540-horsepower car available under fifty grand. Or sixty. Or seventy. Or eighty. Or ninety. In fact, if the embattled Viper doesn’t show up in showrooms for 2010, it will be the only car for sale in the country with this kind of power under… the Corvette ZR-1, which costs nearly three times as much.

Still costs way too much money before a Mustang becomes good. I’d rather save a huge amount of money and get a Camaro SS. It may not be as powerful, but at least it doesn’t cost $50,000 to get one that’ll go around corners.

Interesting car. Hope I drive one. If I do I’ll try to enjoy the heck out of it. Still like some other folk, it may not be my preference. Although right now, having fun is my preference, and the GT500 sounds perfectly capable of delivering.

I agree. No stripes for me either! It was a bitch trying to find a stripe delete car when I was shopping for my Ford GT. But this new GT500 is the first Mustang I’ve considered since my 91 LX 5.0 notchback.

It’s rumored an aluminum block will drop 90lb off the nose sometime in the future.

There’s something about Mustangs. I drive a 2008 Bullitt and I have a strong feeling that in 2 or 3 years I’m going to pick up a GT500. No stripes, and I’ll clean off as much of the badging as I can as well.

For a little extra money you can push the car into truly bonkers territory.

http://store.roushperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=1012

Add long tube headers and a custom tune and you’re staring down the barrel of 700 hp at the wheels… without a powertrain warranty ;)

Something about the nose of it rubs me the wrong way, but I think it would look better without the stripes, or at least in a darker base colour. The new, more pinched headlights combined with the big grill opening looks a little off to me.

And as jeremyb mentioned: Jack seems to have forgotten the CTS-V. Still more expensive than the GT500, but not thrice the price.

At some point in the model year, I may very well be able to sell a 2010 GT500 for sticker…we sold the ’09’s for sticker this year….if you are serious about knowing when you can buy for MSRP I’m at willby33@msn.com

IMO, I think these are the kind of models that Chevy is going to have to build to keep their Camaro current and fresh. Case in point – the RX-8 R3 and any Miata special edition. Anyone with half of an automotive brain knows that the hard core buyers will scoop up theirs at once, and then there will be a few stragglers that get them with good lease/financing deals…and then they collect dust. GM can’t really expect the Camaro to turn their fortunes around. However they can go the Mustang route and make limited runs of special high performance models. That keeps the fire hot and write-ups in the auto rags.
A lot of car companies have found out that when you flood the market with a retro car, all of the things that made it a special car vanish.

…and I want this Mustang Shelby on a dragstrip with me behind the wheel!

it’s the only 540-horsepower car available under fifty grand. Or sixty. Or seventy. Or eighty. Or ninety. In fact, if the embattled Viper doesn’t show up in showrooms for 2010, it will be the only car for sale in the country with this kind of power under… the Corvette ZR-1, which costs nearly three times as much.

Jack did you forget about the CTS-V

It may have 540 HP…but it still is the slowest 500+ HP car on the planet.

Autoblog got from 0 to 60 in 4.3, Automobile mag in 4.5, both from preproduction cars, so, actual numbers should get better once everything is tweaked. Comparing the Mustang to a Corvette or Mercedes sedan is apples and oranges, one has no back seat, the other costs more than double the price to get those performance figures.

There is a stagger in the lineups between the Mustang and the Camaro. The base V6 Mustang undercuts the price of the base Camaro by around $1500, but the Camaro outperforms it, the Mustang GT outperforms the V6 Camaro, but not the SS, but sits in between the two in price, and then the Shelby sits on top of the SS in price, but outperforms it.

540 HP… I got a spirited ride in a normal V8 Mustang, and I came to understand what “merging with the seat” means. With 540 HP I hope the car has a hidden compartment for adult-sized diapers for the passenger, or at least a good-sized plastic bag for all the “Holy Sh.ts!” It must be a hoot to drive, but from a practical point of view… Zero to speeding tickets in 4.5 seconds… It probably goes from a gas station to a gas station… I’ll stick to my Corolla (and I’ll try to figure out how to put that 540 HP in it…sorry, that was the dude on my left shoulder whispering).

Just got home after a Millburn, NJ black and white followed my Steeda Mustang Q350 to where I turned to get home here in quiet South Orange, NOT driving above 25 mph, until the limit sign read 35 mph, (rapidly achieved).
Having test driven a Roush P51, my opinion, for the five cents it is worth, is that you better know how to handle the power when you go supercharged.
It was a fun test drive, but, a scary, fun test drive.
Bye the way, my naturally aspirated Q350, pins ‘em deep in the seat.